Reformists withdraw from election

Iran's largest reform party, the Islamic Participation Front, has withdrawn from this month's general election, effectively handing parliament and government back to Islamic hardliners.

The IPF's decision to boycott the February 20 election turns up the heat on hardliners in Iran's worst political crisis for years.

Reformists are enraged by the decision of the Guardian Council - an unelected constitutional body run by religious hardliners - to declare more than 2000 would-be MPs unfit to stand in the election.

More than 120 reformist MPs resigned from parliament on Sunday, and President Mohammad Khatami's reformist Government has called for the election to be postponed.

"We have no hope that a fair, free and legitimate election can be held on February 20. So, in the current circumstances, we cannot participate," the head of the IPF, Mohammad Reza Khatami, said on Monday.

He said the IPF, one of the main backers of his brother the President, would put forward candidates for an election only if the bans were overturned and the election delayed to allow more time for campaigning.

He said the IPF was not calling on Iranians to abstain from voting but the turnout would be low.

The Guardian Council's move has led to international concern about the election's legitimacy and has overshadowed the 25th anniversary celebrations of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's return from exile.

More than 80 deputies in the reformist-dominated 290-seat parliament are among those barred from the election.

Should the council - comprising 12 clerics and Islamic jurists - reject the delay request, President Khatami's Government could refuse to organise the election. He could also allow provincial governors, who play a key role in administering them, to carry out their threat to resign.

Hardliners, concerned about such tactics, have threatened to prosecute any official who hampers the election by resigning.

A request for a delay by the Interior Ministry was rejected by the Guardian Council last week.

A second request, lodged on Saturday, has not yet been answered.

Despite the heightened political tension, public interest in the dispute has so far been muted.

Most Iranians, disillusioned by years of broken promises of reform, have grown apathetic to the reformist-hardline power struggle.

Turnout in local council elections a year ago plunged to about 15 per cent in major cities, and most analysts expect a similar outcome in the parliamentary election.

With talks between appointed hardliners and elected reformers deadlocked, hopes for a solution are pinned on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who succeeded Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989.

Analysts say Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the last word on state matters, may order many of the candidate bans overturned to avert a legitimacy crisis and international criticism.

"It's the leader's time to step in now. Although he often leaves things until the very last moment," said a political analyst, who declined to be identified.

Given the proximity of the election and the lengthy case-by-case process needed to confirm the resignations, analysts said the lawmakers' walk-out was largely a tactical ploy aimed at putting pressure on the council.